The Wall Street Journal (8/7, Petersen, Subscription Publication) reported the rise of the Delta variant is creating new uncertainty about whether therapists and patients should resume in-person mental health treatment. According to psychiatrist Jay Shore, MD, MPH, who chairs the American Psychiatric Association’s telepsychiatry committee, digital tools are helping people get access to mental healthcare they might not otherwise get.

Related Links:

— “Online Therapy Got Popular During Covid. Should You Still See Your Therapist in Person? “Andrea Petersen, The Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2021

The New York Times (8/5, Stolberg) reports the Biden Administration, “worried that coronavirus vaccination rates among young people are lagging as the school year approaches, is enlisting pediatricians to incorporate vaccination into back-to-school sports physicals and encouraging schools to host their own vaccination clinics as part of a new push to get students their shots.” The initiative, “announced on Thursday by Education Secretary Miguel A. Cordona, is part of a broader ‘return to school road map’ aimed at getting students back to in-person learning this fall.” In order to help prevent transmission during school athletics, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine have partnered with the Administration put out guidances for physicians “and update the forms required for school physicals.”

Related Links:

— “White House Makes Back-to-School Push for Student Vaccinations “Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, August 5, 2021

MedPage Today (8/5, Firth) reports six in ten physicians “say they often experience feelings of burnout, a 20% jump from pre-pandemic levels reported in 2018, according to The Physicians Foundation’s 2021 Survey of America’s Physicians released on Thursday.” Additionally, a “total of 46% of physicians said they have isolated or withdrawn from other people in the last year, more than one in three said they felt hopeless or without a purpose, and 57% reported experiencing ‘inappropriate episodes of anger, tearfulness, or anxiety.’” Further, “only 14% of physicians sought medical attention for their mental health concern.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (8/5, Gramigna) reports, “People with preexisting mood disorders had increased risk for COVID-19 hospitalization and death,” investigators concluded in a systematic review and meta-analysis that “included 21 primary research articles involving more than 91 million individuals that featured quantitative COVID-19 outcome data from people with mood disorders compared with people without mood disorders of any age, sex and nationality.” The authors suggested that these people “should be categorized as an at-risk group on the basis of a preexisting condition.” The findings were published online July 28 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Mood disorders should be considered preexisting condition for increased COVID-19 risks “Joe Gramigna, Healio, August 5, 2021

The Hill (8/4, Choi) reports a study by Imperial College London was released on Wednesday that “found that fully vaccinated people are three times less likely to test positive for the coronavirus compared to unvaccinated people.” The findings “are based on swab tests taken by nearly 100,000 people in England between June 24 and July 12. Of the tests taken, 0.63 percent tested positive.” Researchers “estimated that fully vaccinated people were 50 to 60 percent less likely to become infected with the Delta variant than unvaccinated people, including asymptomatic cases.”

Related Links:

— “Both vaccine doses reduce risk of delta variant infection by up to 60 percent: study “Joseph Cho, The Hill, August 4, 2021